Good News, Bad News
By Ps Alby Yip
I’ve counted! Among the 24 news items reported in “Breaking News & Analysis” on the CNA news website on Tuesday at 8 pm, one was “good news”, two were neutral, and the rest were bad news. I’ll leave you to do your own count off whichever media platform you read on. But I am quite sure that they will not be far off.
Why is it that there seems to be so much more bad news than good news reported? Even in our daily conversations, how many of them are compliments (good news) and how many are complaints (bad news). Why this obsession with or even resignation to bad news? What is happening in this world that we are living in?
The Genesis series, especially in Genesis 3 will inform us why. That will be next week. For now, let us be reminded of the “good” that God has created for humankind. Genesis 1 recorded that God saw that “it was good” (1:10) after He created the structures and firmaments of the earth. After God created the vegetation, fruits and trees, again He saw that “it was good” (1:12).
Upon completion of the day, night and seasons, again God saw that “it was good” (1:18). Having created the creatures of the sea and the air, God saw that “it was good” too (1:21). The livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth were next to be created. After which, God again saw that “it was good” (1:25)
After humankind, the crowning glory of God’s creation was born, God looked at His completed work and saw that “it was very good” (1:31). Remember, everything was very good. God rested on the seventh day, made it holy and commanded that man kept the same (2:1-3). It was not so much about physical rest as it was a reminder to rest and trust in God’s goodness.
The rest of Genesis 2 is a recapitulation of God’s creation, design, and provision, and they were good (2:9, 12). But Genesis 2 also contained an ominous foreboding. Twice we are reminded that amongst others, particularly the tree of life, there is also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
We are all familiar with the account of Adam and Eve eating the “forbidden fruit” of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the resultant Fall of Adam and Eve and the rest of humanity. Perhaps in preparation for next week when we cover that pivotal moment in creation, you can think about:
- Why did the eating of the “forbidden fruit” cause humanity to Fall?
- Why did humans want the knowledge of evil when everything else was very good?
- What is SIN?
